Choices of One (formerly Hand of Judgement) by Timothy Zahn

I don't want to be the Negative Natasi in this thread, but this blurb sounds... boring.

Nothing about it grabs me by my lapels and screams at me to "BUY THIS BOOK! BUY IT NOW! BUY IT LIKE YOU WERE BORN READY TO BUY IT."

It sounds exactly like Allegiance except we have swapped Disra out for Random Warlord and this time they have added Thrawn.

I too thought like cdgodin that the "wild card" was actually a reference to Talon Karrde. It would be especially pun-alicious given the name of his ship: the Wild Karrde. It seems to fit more than Thrawn, who I would assume spends this novel sitting in the shadows out-thinking everyone from the Big Three, to Mara, to this alien warlord to even every single person who decides to read this book.

I really really really hope that this alien warlord hails from an interesting species. He (she?) has great potential and so I hope s/he comes from a badass species.

I'd like to be excited, but this lacklustre blurb coupled with THE WORST COVER I HAVE EVER SEEN wonders how this book will fare.

Isn't it a tentative cover ? I remember it to be a draft but seing that no final cover has been revealed yet, it well might be the final one.

Think wisdom comes at no cost? The dark side, yes-it is easier for them. The pain grows too great, and they eat the darkness to flee from it. Not Yoda. Yoda loves and suffers for it, loves and suffers. -- Yoda

At some point they showed the final cover - which had insignificant changes from the "preliminary" one as I recall (slight positioning changes for the Stormtroopers perhaps).

Nom, all I've got to say is Zahn. That name will sell this book. It could be about the painting crew for the Executor "my god, do you know the kind of punishment Vader doles out for running low on battleship gray!" and it would sell well based on that author.

For me, it sounds like an interesting adventure. In some ways, I wish it was only a Mara Jade story - constantly having these side-by-side stories where these characters are near each other but don't meet seems a little too convenient - but until I've read the book, I'm willing to go with it (it may be that they're no where near each other).

I do think the "wild card" is Talon. We're already getting a Thrawn short story in Heir to the Empire - not that one has anything to do with the other - but, somehow I expect Karrde more in Choices of One. If Thrawn is in it, I expect nothing more than a cameo (as opposed to Karrde, who could conceivably have a larger role).

S1thari wrote:
The cover and the blurb sound 10x better than other upcoming novels, like say, "Shadow Games," which seems mind-numbingly boring. Not to mention the fact that the cover is ridiculously bland.

I actually quite like the cover - it was better than ALLEGIANCE's.

While I disagree with you about the Shadow Games cover (I think it looks pretty cool actually) - I agree about the content of that book doing nothing for me, and also the sentiment that Choices of One is a better cover than Allegiance.

I liked the lightsaber color better (they look like they're going for a pure Sith color here, Red/Crimson - but while it's been awhile since I read By the Emperor's Hand, I don't recall her lightsaber being that color.

While the positioning of the Stormtroopers is better in the new cover, they seem to disappear below the waist. New cloaking technology obviously.

I think it's odder without her left arm/hand - now I guess it's supposed to be hidden from our view (behind her back/side)?

Mara also now looks like she's rolling her eyes - which perhaps she is considering the state of this cover.

The color of her lightsaber is pink/magenta - they mention it in a few books, I believe - Allegiance being the most recent. She says that Palpatine gave the crystal to her as a gift, and that it was a very rare kind.

Kirr Mistwelder wrote:I liked the lightsaber color better (they look like they're going for a pure Sith color here, Red/Crimson - but while it's been awhile since I read By the Emperor's Hand, I don't recall her lightsaber being that color.

Her lightsaber in By the Emperor's Hand actually is closer in colour to the modified cover's version, more pinkish-magenta than purple.